Liang battles test, race in boys Wickham Invite

The gradual incline that makes up the first and last 200 meters of the Wickham Park course has taken on a familiar name with many of the runners it has hindered.

By KYLE ST. JEAN

The Bulletin

By KYLE ST. JEAN

Posted Oct. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 7, 2012 at 7:03 AM

By KYLE ST. JEAN

Posted Oct. 7, 2012 at 12:01 AM
Updated Oct 7, 2012 at 7:03 AM

MANCHESTER — The gradual incline that makes up the first and last 200 meters of the Wickham Park course has taken on a familiar name with many of the runners it has hindered.

Norwich Free Academy’s Kyle Liang knew the term.

“They call that the green monster,” said Liang.

Liang benefited from his familiarity with the monster, as he saved some energy to speed his way up the final phase of the course to take a 13th-place finish at 17 minutes, 26 seconds in the championship race of the 31st annual Wickham Invitational Saturday.

But Liang was more exhausted than usual after crossing the finish line — he’d just taken the SAT test hours earlier.

“I wanted to make sure I focused on the SATs during the SAT, and once the test was over, focus on the race,” said Liang. “I’m mentally exhausted from the SATs, and now I’m physically exhausted.”

Like any athlete, Liang prefers the thrill of running over sitting at a desk.

“I enjoy the pain of racing, but I don’t enjoy the agony of a standardized test,” he said with a laugh.

Vikings 2nd

East Lyme saw success in the seeded race, placing second as a team with 192 points.

Seniors Ben Ostrowski (17:29) and Jon Combies (17:35) led the Vikings, finishing ninth and 15th, respectively. The two have had the opportunity to run the Wickham course numerous times in their high school career and thus already knew of the notorious hill.

“We’ve run this race so many times,” said Ostrowski. “We run it every year during states, and come to this invite every year. (The hill) is the course’s idea of telling you you’re going to have to work for this one. We knew that coming in.”

Combies agreed that the hill is the difficult aspect of the race.

“We’ve done a lot of hill workouts to prepare for the green monster,” he said.

East Lyme coach Sam Harfenist was more then pleased with his team’s results. Although East Lyme is currently undefeated, it was difficult to gauge how well the Vikings (8-0) would do because so many teams were competing.

“We just kind of went out there knowing we could do well and had the potential to do well, but not necessarily knowing where we were going to be,” Harfenist said.

Muddy spots

Although he finished 17th, Montville’s Jesse Joseph (17:37) didn’t have as pleasant an experience as the Vikings, running into a glob of mud at the onset of the hill, allowing Combies to pass him.

“I was trying to kick, and then I sunk two steps, and he blew by me,” said Joseph. “I wasn’t able to catch him after that.”

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St. Bernard’s Connor Gralton (17:57) was the next ECC finisher at 26th.

In the unseeded race, Ledyard came in second with 276 points. Bryce Hedman (18:36) led the Colonels, finishing 22nd, while teammate Tyler Torelli (18:51) finished 32nd.